Phil Jackson, the renown basketball coach – Michael Jordon's coach – would tell his players on the court to always look for the space between.
It was in that space between the players on a court where opportunity emerged and excellence could be experienced that transcended what individuals could do on their own. As a leader, one must help others find the right balance that could fully leverage each team member's potential – an expression of Wu Wei.
>To explain, Jackson would tell a story about the Chinese emperor Liu Bang. A citizen asks a Zen monk why is it that Liu Bang is considered a powerful leader if all of his advisers are smarter and stronger than he is?
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The Zen monk replies:
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“‘Why is it that two wheels made of identical spokes differ in strength?’ asked the master. ‘See beyond what is seen. Never forget that the wheel is made not only of spokes, but also of the space between the spokes.
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Sturdy spokes poorly placed make a weak wheel. Whether their full potential is realized depends on the harmony between them.
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The essence of wheel-making lies in the craftman’s ability to conceive and create the space that holds and balances the spokes within the wheel.'” source 
A teaching that flows from the Taoist wisdom of Lao Tzu:
>Thirty spokes are made one by holes in a hub
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Together with the vacancies between them, they comprise a wheel.
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The use of clay in moulding pitchers
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Comes from the hollow of its absence;
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Doors, windows, in a house
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Are used for their emptiness:
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Thus we are helped by what is not
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To use what is.
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– Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu page
We believe that there might be lessons here for how we think about developing resilient systems. Alan Kay certainly thought so.
In an email to the squeak community , he wrote:
>The Japanese have a small word - ma - for "that which is in between" - perhaps the nearest English equivalent is "interstitial". > >The key in making great and growable systems is much more to design how its modules communicate rather than what their internal properties and behaviors should be.
Ma has also been described as "an emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise yet to be fulfilled", and as "the silence between the notes which make the music" wikipedia . An Emergent Whitespace that is inherent within Lambda calculus and Lisp, that which laid the foundation for Smalltalk.
An emergence that is felt in Magical Moments.
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